6th January 1956
Guernsey Police moves to its new headquarters
This was a year of great change for Guernsey Police. Its officers were given a brand new khaki uniform, which had a distinctly Mediterranean feel, and they moved into a new headquarters building.
They didn’t move far, being already based in St Peter Port. However, with its existing premises feeling distinctly cramped, it decamped to a purpose-built facility, St James’s Chambers, which also housed the Law Officers of the Crown. The location had historical significance to the force.
Coming home
The building was new but when Guernsey’s first island-wide force had been established in the 1920s it was based in a single room next door to an umbrella shop in the existing St James’s Chambers. As a result, the force spent a total of 73 years at the site, from 1920 until 1993, by which time it had once again outgrown the available space. At this point it moved to the former hospital building.
It had taken six years for the hospital site to be converted and made suitable for police use, with the move first being discussed in the States of Deliberation in summer 1987.
The move allowed the force to once again accommodate all of its departments on a single site, rather than scattering them about Town.
Although the police is no longer based there, the Law Officers of the Crown still occupy space in St James’s Chambers, ensuring that the building’s role in upholding law on the island continues to this day.
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Other events that occured in January
Guernsey Fisher makes its maiden voyage
- Guernsey Fisher was a cargo ship serving the Channel Islands and the mainland
- Read more…
Guernsey lifeboat performs a chemical tanker rescue
- The lifeboat from St Peter Port saved 22 crew from two damaged ships
- Read more…
Sark is awarded Dark-Sky status
- Sark became the first international Dark-Sky Community in Europe in 2011.
- Read more…
Radiant Med sinks with loss of life
- The Radiant Med, a 3000-ton Liberian-registered cargo ship, sank when it struck rocks 15 miles off Guernsey
- Read more…